SimpliFlyinghttp://simpliflying.com
The Leading Airline Marketing AgencyTue, 26 Sep 2017 16:16:04 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.6Airline social media – the changing landscape, by the numbers #AviationFesthttp://simpliflying.com/2017/airline-social-media/
http://simpliflying.com/2017/airline-social-media/#respondSun, 24 Sep 2017 15:49:47 +0000http://simpliflying.com/?p=28690An airline social media strategy is no longer a luxury for airlines. It is an urgent necessity that has the potential to deliver multiple benefits while ensuring that today’s connected travellers can interact with the airline on their preferred channel. We recently released our annual airline social media outlook report at the Aviation Festival in London. While

]]>An airline social media strategy is no longer a luxury for airlines. It is an urgent necessity that has the potential to deliver multiple benefits while ensuring that today’s connected travellers can interact with the airline on their preferred channel. We recently released our annual airline social media outlook report at the Aviation Festival in London.

While the full 32-page report can be downloaded here, I’d like to share the actual presentation that I unveiled in London with the overview of the report. This can be used by any airline social media teams for getting internal buy-in as well. It focuses on how the landscape is changing rapidly and what needs to be done in order to stay ahead of the competition.

]]>http://simpliflying.com/2017/airline-social-media/feed/0Airline Social Media Outlook 2018: Airlines’ Priorities & Budget Forecast For Social Mediahttp://simpliflying.com/2017/airline-social-media-outlook-2018-airlines-priorities-budget-forecast-social-media/
http://simpliflying.com/2017/airline-social-media-outlook-2018-airlines-priorities-budget-forecast-social-media/#respondWed, 20 Sep 2017 14:37:07 +0000http://simpliflying.com/?p=28760A social media strategy is no longer a luxury for airline marketing departments. It is an urgent necessity that has the potential to deliver multiple benefits, while ensuring that today’s connected travellers can interact with the airline on their preferred channel. The Airline Social Media Outlook Report provides deep insights into airlines’ use of social

A social media strategy is no longer a luxury for airline marketing departments. It is an urgent necessity that has the potential to deliver multiple benefits, while ensuring that today’s connected travellers can interact with the airline on their preferred channel.

The Airline Social Media Outlook Report provides deep insights into airlines’ use of social media to achieve business goals. Conducted every year since 2010, the report is based on in-depth responses from extensive surveys conducted with airline practitioners.

This year we received survey responses from 117 executives from 83 airlines across the globe, including from Asia Pacific, Middle East, Europe, North America, South America and Africa.

KEY FINDINGS FOR AIRLINE SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLOOK 2018

Hybrid (43%) and dedicated (39%) social media team structures continue to be the most popular. This year hybrid structures have made a comeback likely due to their lower costs and better integration with the rest of the airline’s structure.

Customer service was indicated as a top priority by 43% of respondents and remains the top goal driven via social media. The constant increase in customer service focus is a response to user demand for faster and more efficient interactions that have the ultimate goal of improving the airline’s brand image.

Crisis communications was the most common new responsibility added to social media teams (31%) coming to the fore after a challenging year. The focus on customer service as a way to improve brand image and match user demand has brought a renewed emphasis on social-media-led crisis management.

Social media metrics and data analytics remain underdeveloped with 33% of respondents highlighting the need for data specialists and another 31% the need for tools and software. Airlines have started measuring and gathering data from social media but it appears that the data is not yet being put to good use and sometimes the metrics being monitored are not the ideal ones.

To help airline executives plan their social media budget and activities better for the coming year 2018, we have put together a comprehensive 32-page report, as well as an infographic – all sharing key findings from this survey research.

]]>http://simpliflying.com/2017/airline-social-media-outlook-2018-airlines-priorities-budget-forecast-social-media/feed/0Ajay Singh of SpiceJet on turnaround, cultural change and leadership #SimpliLivehttp://simpliflying.com/2017/ajay-singh-spicejet-turnaround-cultural-change-leadership-simplilive/
http://simpliflying.com/2017/ajay-singh-spicejet-turnaround-cultural-change-leadership-simplilive/#respondTue, 12 Sep 2017 11:59:16 +0000http://simpliflying.com/?p=28692Ever heard your name being mentioned by the President of the United States during a press conference? Not to mention, by President Trump and his VP, Mike Pence? This could sound slightly worrying for most. But for Ajay Singh, it was just the opposite. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, made an example of

]]>Ever heard your name being mentioned by the President of the United States during a press conference? Not to mention, by President Trump and his VP, Mike Pence? This could sound slightly worrying for most. But for Ajay Singh, it was just the opposite.

The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, made an example of SpiceJet and how its growth will contribute to the US economy. He pointed out to President Trump, how SpiceJet recently placed a massive order of nearly 200 aircraft worth nearly USD 22 billion, which is expected to generate 135,000 high-paying jobs in the United States.

The story of SpiceJet is powerful. Just 3 years ago, on December 16, 2014, SpiceJet announced that they were not going to fly the following day and employees should stay home. This is when Ajay took over and started the airline turn around, which in 2017 has been the best performing airline stock in the world! SpiceJet is a low-cost carrier and the third largest airline in India and a former SimpliFlying Client.

At the Aviation Festival in London, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ajay and dig a bit deeper into the amazing and unprecedented turnaround story of SpiceJet. Ajay shares fascinating insights from when he first took over the airline, what challenges they faced, how they turned every stone to increase revenue and reduce costs, as well how he managed to change the culture of the company through his empowering leadership. In fact, I had done a SimpliLive episode specifically on the turnaround strategies of SpiceJet.

He also shares his knowledge about the present and future of the Indian aviation sector and of course, SpiceJet. The interview ends with Ajay’s personal insights and career advice that you would not want to miss.

In this Episode you will learn:

The inspiring story of what happened when SpiceJet basically declared bankruptcy in December 2014 [2:21]

The culture of SpiceJet [6:03 + 9:38]

What SpiceJet specifically did to reduce costs [8:27]

Valuable insights about the present and future of the Indian aviation sector [12:17 + 16:18]

The importance of the Q400 for SpiceJet [14:32]

Which new routes SpiceJet are launching [15:14]

About Ajay’s rather amusing cricket experiences [17:14]

How Ajay feels about failure and taking risks [18:11]

And much more…

Ajay Singh from Spicejet, in his own words

Ajay Singh on the SpiceJet brand

“It doesn’t take money to be nice.”

Ajay Singh on cutting costs at SpiceJet

“You have to look at every single cost, and see, what it is, you are not doing right.” “Question all assumptions.”

Ajay Singh on the Indian Aviation market:

“The market is really large. We have 33 million people flying today, which is less than 3% of our population”

“As our economy grows 7-8% for the next 10 years conceivably, this market will explode”.

“…in India we have 400 airports. Of the 400 airports, we are only using 75 airports at this time” “…there are potentially another 325 airports which are in some shape or form useable…”

Ajay Singh on the Q400

“We have 20 Q400’s already in the fleet, and we have placed an order for 25 firm and 25 options, so 50 more Q400’s. It’s the largest order Bombardier has received!”

”… We need to connect the small towns of India, and the Q400 is a nice aircraft to do it with. We have experience with it, it is a quiet aircraft and a fast aircraft and it can land in the smaller airports, so we are happy with it”

Ajay Singh on failure

“I have had as many failures as anybody else”

Ajay Singh on taking away the stigma of failure within the SpiceJet Culture

“…encourage people to take risks”

“We need to keep thinking out the box”

“In a young country, risk taking will lead to success”

Ajay Singh on giving advice

“Do what you really enjoy doing, because you will do well, if work is a pleasure and joyful”

Here is the full interview with Ajay Singh from SpiceJet

Excerpts from the interview…

Shashank: I really enjoyed the early years of SpiceJet, it was very lively and cheerful. How has the brand evolved?

Ajay Singh: This is a young country with 65% of the population under 20 of age, so we build an airline for the young people. And when you came on board, it was important to feel that we had a vibrant, energetic, friendly and welcoming brand. We hope we have kept that same spirit going.

Shashank: How is SpiceJet a personal airline?

Ajay Singh: We counsel our staff to be nice. It doesn’t take money to be nice. If you are just friendly, nice and empathetic that creates a different vibe. It is an attitude and a state of mind. If the crew are happy, they will behave in a certain manner. You have to make them proud of what they do. When I took over the airline in 2014, there was huge demoralization, but now, with the success of SpiceJet and having been spoken of in Indian and International media, it makes people feel incredibly proud being part of a story which is truly historic, and that is reflected in their behavior.

Shashank: What are the little things you did to turn SpiceJet around?

Ajay Singh: We did hundreds of little things. Our main objective was to ensure that we increased revenue and reduced costs where we could. In terms of increasing revenue, we looked at every route, every station, and every plane, to make sure we were flying profitable routes and cutting out unprofitable ones. We cut a lot of routes and small stations. We tried to get back the basic core of low-cost flights which is flying many flights into one destination, rather than flying single flights to many destinations. We looked at fuel costs and how we could reduce that, how we could fly at a certain height with a certain speed, how we could cut an engine when we are taxiing, how much of the GPU and APU we are using etc. You have to start with the basics, and look at every single cost and see what it is, that you are not doing right. It is a continuous process. Watch my earlier #SimpliLive episode on SpiceJet’s turnaround.

Shashank: How did you turn the culture around and motivated people?

Ajay Singh: The base was already there. I tried to revive the start-up culture again. I told them that this was the bottom and that whatever we did now, we should make sure it will make ourselves and families proud, and be something we can look back on, and that we would be able to tell the story to our children.

I truly enjoyed my conversation with Ajay Singh. A remarkable turnaround, isn’t it? Let me know who you’d like to see on the SimpliFlying Live Show in the future.

]]>http://simpliflying.com/2017/ajay-singh-spicejet-turnaround-cultural-change-leadership-simplilive/feed/0Canada’s WestJet emerges the most triumphant at the SimpliFlying Awards 2017http://simpliflying.com/2017/28669/
http://simpliflying.com/2017/28669/#respondWed, 06 Sep 2017 17:14:10 +0000http://simpliflying.com/?p=28669Today, the annual SimpliFlying Awards for Excellence in Social Media honoured the world’s best airlines for their achievements in digital and social media marketing. Currently in the seventh year, SimpliFlying Awards are the longest-running awards celebrating airline marketing success. WestJet took home four awards – Best Overall Airline, Best Airline in North America and Best

]]>Today, the annual SimpliFlying Awards for Excellence in Social Media honoured the world’s best airlines for their achievements in digital and social media marketing. Currently in the seventh year, SimpliFlying Awards are the longest-running awards celebrating airline marketing success.

WestJet took home four awards – Best Overall Airline, Best Airline in North America and Best Airline in Driving Revenues and Highly Commended in Branding. American Airlines received the special honour of being inducted in the Hall of Fame for sustained excellence in social media. This was the second time at the SimpliFlying Awards an airline has been inducted into the Hall of Fame – KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was the first airline to receive this honour in 2015.

“SimpliFlying Awards encourage airlines to innovate and stay ahead of the competition. It’s heartening to see the likes of WestJet pushing the boundaries of airline marketing,” said Shashank Nigam, CEO, SimpliFlying.

The judging panel comprised stalwarts of airline and marketing, including Max Kingsley-Jones (Executive Director Content, FlightGlobal), Brittany Masters (former Global Brand Director 777X, BOEING) and Dennis Owen (former Group Manager Social Media, Cathay Pacific). Each airline was assessed on how it demonstrated innovativeness, engagement and business impact in the past year.

Regarding the awards entries this year, Max Kingsley-Jones said, “There was a wealth of innovative and engaging campaigns among this year’s entries. We saw some clever ideas for social engagement and an interesting mix of submissions from some of the usual suspects along with a few of the more traditional players.”

Results Of SimpliFlying Awards 2017 For Excellence In Social Media

Best Airline in Social Media: WestJet

Best Airline in Branding: WOW air

Highly commended: Silk Air, WestJet

Best Airline in Customer Service: Alaska Airlines

Highly commended: Brussels Airlines, Icelandair

Best Airline in Launches: Brussels Airlines

Highly commended: Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific

Best Airline in Driving Revenues: WestJet

Highly commended: Royal Jordanian Airlines, Volaris

Best Airline in North America: WestJet

Best Airline in Latin America: AeroMexico

Best Airline in Europe: WOW air

Best Airline in Asia Pacific: Air New Zealand

Hall of Fame: American Airlines

Best New Airline Safety Video: British Airways

Congratulations to the SimpliFlying Awards 2017 winners!

Last But Not Least…

Special thanks go out to Terrapinn, especially Daniel Boyle from Business Design Centre for supporting the SimpliFlying Awards 2017. Thanks go also to Gaudio Awards for such beautiful trophies.

###

SimpliFlying Awards for Excellence in Social Media, first established in 2010, are the longest-running awards dedicated to recognising the best social media practices in the aviation industry. Airlines around the world are shortlisted and assessed by an external panel of distinguished airline and travel marketing stalwarts. Committed to raising the industry standard, the SimpliFlying Awards invite the winning airlines to share their social media successes with the rest of the world. Past award winners include KLM, Southwest, Air New Zealand, Turkish Airlines, Cathay Pacific and more.

]]>http://simpliflying.com/2017/28669/feed/0Eash Sundaram of JetBlue on SimpliFlying Live Show: technology ventures, leadership and movies! #SimpliLivehttp://simpliflying.com/2017/eash-sundaram-jetblue/
http://simpliflying.com/2017/eash-sundaram-jetblue/#respondFri, 01 Sep 2017 14:35:04 +0000http://simpliflying.com/?p=28609Imagine that you wanted to be a movie maker. But your parents wanted you to grow up to be a doctor or engineer. You pursue engineering and become really good at what you do. How good? Good enough to end up leading all digital efforts at one of the most innovative airlines in the world.

]]>Imagine that you wanted to be a movie maker. But your parents wanted you to grow up to be a doctor or engineer. You pursue engineering and become really good at what you do. How good? Good enough to end up leading all digital efforts at one of the most innovative airlines in the world. And start up a venture capital fund! That’s Eash Sundaram of JetBlue for you in a gist.

Eash Sundaram leads all digital and innovation efforts at JetBlue and most recently helped start JetBlue Technology Ventures.I first met Eash a couple of years ago when we were both speaking at the SITA IT Summit in Belgium. I enjoyed our chats there and couldn’t wait to have a deeper conversation with him.

I finally had the privilege of interviewing him on the SimpliFlying Live Show this week. JetBlue made a splash in the technology world last year by announcing the creation of a venture fund which would invest in early stage startups anywhere from $250,000 to $1 million. We dive deep into how this has worked out till date for JetBlue.

If you lead digital, eCommerce, mobile or innovation efforts in the travel industry, this interview is a must watch. If you’re looking to grow in your career, Eash’s advice regarding leadership and mentors is priceless.

Some questions I ask:

What’s the story behind JetBlue Technology Ventures? [3:15]

How was the team put together? [4:00]

Why is JetBlue Technology Ventures not near the airline’s HQ in NY? [6:10]

What are the metrics for success at JetBlue Technology Ventures? [16:23]

What’s been the role of mentors in your career? [15:20]

The Rapid Fire Round – where Eash tells me the first answer that comes to his mind [17:45]

In this episode you will learn:

My first JetBlue experience (which didn’t involve a flight!) [00:50]

How JetBlue inspires humanity? [1:15]

How JetBlue harnesses ideas from outside the airline? [2:20]

The unique journey of Bonnie Simi, the President of JetBlue Technology Ventures [5:20]

]]>http://simpliflying.com/2017/eash-sundaram-jetblue/feed/0SimpliFlying launches the first ever Lab dedicated to the Americashttp://simpliflying.com/2017/simpliflying-launches-the-first-ever-lab-dedicated-to-the-americas/
http://simpliflying.com/2017/simpliflying-launches-the-first-ever-lab-dedicated-to-the-americas/#respondFri, 25 Aug 2017 08:49:43 +0000http://simpliflying.com/?p=28569Last year, our Airline Marketing Innovation Lab in London brought together marketers from airlines across the world. Apart from unprecedented knowledge exchange, the Lab also threw up a crucial insight — each region offers different marketing challenges for airlines. For example, airlines in Asia face a slew of language issues that airlines in the US

]]>Last year, our Airline Marketing Innovation Lab in London brought together marketers from airlines across the world. Apart from unprecedented knowledge exchange, the Lab also threw up a crucial insight — each region offers different marketing challenges for airlines. For example, airlines in Asia face a slew of language issues that airlines in the US don’t. Hence, earlier this year, we launched the first in a series of regional Labs. The first, for Asia, was organised in Singapore in February. Today, we are thrilled to announce our first ever Lab dedicated to the Americas.

The SimpliFlying Airline Marketing Innovations Lab Americas will take place on October 19-20 at the Mandalay Bay Las Vegas. It will be co-hosted alongside the 19th Annual North America 2017 Summit by EyeforTravel. Specifically designed for airlines in the North America and Latin America, the Lab promises to be a transformative experience for airline marketing executives and practitioners.

PREPARE FOR THE MOST UNIQUE AVIATION EVENT YOU’VE ATTENDED

Intense peer-to-peer learning. Exclusive only to airlines, each day of the Lab brings together 30 marketers from the top airlines from North and Latin America. It is an intimate gathering where everyone comes with an open mind to learn, connect and grow.

No Slides. We believe that humans learn much more by interacting with one another rather than watching someone scroll through a long presentation. Stories inspire. Slides bore.

Everyone gets on the stage. We are all peers in the industry and everyone has something to share. That’s why we ensure that every single participant gets on the stage to share his or her experience at some point during the event. Egalitarianism rocks!

Intimate exchange of experiences and ideas. Expect free-wheeling exchanges about the biggest challenges and successes as well as debates on the future of airline marketing. Both days feature roundtable and panel discussions on different business-critical trends, including the future of eCommerce and payments, real-time customer service, big data and more. No presentations. Candid conversations only.

Hands-on exercises and live experiments with chatbots, crisis simulations, and more! Look at digital airline marketing from a new perspective and learn how smart innovations can help stay ahead of the competition.

Learn from experts from around the world. Participate in thought-provoking sessions held by speakers like Dave Carroll of the “United Breaks Guitars” fame and payments innovator, Affirm, among others.

This will be our fifth lab; our previous labs being held in Las Vegas, Singapore, and London. If you plan to join us this year in Las Vegas, below are a couple of tips and feedback from previous airline participants.

“The thing I find most valuable about the lab is the opportunity to talk to my counterparts. The things you’re struggling with or trying to figure out, everybody is too. In terms of airline conferences, this is my favourite by far.” — Dennis Owen, Former Group Social Media Manager at Cathay Pacific

“This is a fantastic opportunity to participate in intimate roundtables, panel discussions, and practical live experiments – helping you gain insights and develop solutions to the most pressing challenges facing airlines today.” — Renu Kannu, the summit director

“Bring your questions, bring your learnings and just bring an open mind. What we got out of today was something I wished we could make last for five days.” – Cassie Roma, Air New Zealand

]]>http://simpliflying.com/2017/simpliflying-launches-the-first-ever-lab-dedicated-to-the-americas/feed/0Announcing Top 3 Airlines of SimpliFlying Awards 2017http://simpliflying.com/2017/announcing-top-3-airlines-simpliflying-awards-2017/
http://simpliflying.com/2017/announcing-top-3-airlines-simpliflying-awards-2017/#respondThu, 10 Aug 2017 16:47:20 +0000http://simpliflying.com/?p=28546After careful evaluation by a highly esteemed jury, we are pleased to announce the top three airlines for the award categories in SimpliFlying Awards 2017 for Excellence in Social Media. All the finalists are invited to the awards ceremony in London co-hosted by Terrapinn at the Aviation Festival Europe on September 6, 2017. The overall

All the finalists are invited to the awards ceremony in London co-hosted by Terrapinn at the Aviation Festival Europe on September 6, 2017. The overall winner for each category will be announced at the official awards ceremony closer to the evening

On September 5, accompanying the awards this year is our Airline Marketing Innovation Lab. SimpliFlying looks forward to welcoming all the awards finalists to a day of learning and discussing the vision of airline marketing with industry peers in specialised roundtables and panels. Read more about SimpliFlying Lab 2017 and sign up here.

Top 3 Airlines In Each Category

(*in no particular order)

BRANDING

WestJet, WOW air, SilkAir

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Alaska Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Icelandair

LAUNCHES

Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific

DRIVING REVENUE & MOBILE

Volaris, Royal Jordanian Airlines, WestJet

The winners for categories Overall in APAC, Overall in Europe, Overall in North America and Overall in Latin America will be announced only at the awards ceremony.

In addition to the above categories, SimpliFlying will be honouring airlines for the following special categories:

Best Airline in Social Media

Best New Airline Safety Video

Hall of Fame

Congratulations to all those who secured a position in the top three and a huge round of applause to all the airlines that participated so enthusiastically in this year’s awards!

The overall winner for each of the main categories of SimpliFlying Awards 2017 will be revealed on Sep 6, 2017 at the awards ceremony in London.

###

About SimpliFlying Awards For Excellence In Social Media

The SimpliFlying Awards for Excellence in Social Media, established in 2010, are the longest running awards dedicated to recognising the best social media campaigns and practices in the aviation industry. Committed to raising the standard of airlines and airports on social media, the SimpliFlying Awards promote the exchange of knowledge in the sphere of social media by recognising the best airlines on social media and inviting award winners to present and share their successes with the rest of the world. Each year, SimpliFlying Awards picks the best through a rigorous process of expert evaluation by a distinguished panel. Past award winners include KLM, American Airlines, Southwest, Air New Zealand, Lufthansa, Emirates and more. More about SimpliFlying Awards 2017 here.

]]>http://simpliflying.com/2017/announcing-top-3-airlines-simpliflying-awards-2017/feed/0The epidemic of fake airline social media metricshttp://simpliflying.com/2017/fake-airlines-social-media-metrics/
http://simpliflying.com/2017/fake-airlines-social-media-metrics/#respondSun, 06 Aug 2017 21:08:47 +0000http://simpliflying.com/?p=28456In our work on marketing strategy, airline social media metrics often come up in discussions. Though, we realize that once agencies take over the implementation of the strategy, most of the airline social media metrics used today border on irrelevance. What is the value of Views, Likes or Shares to the business? Especially when they can

]]>In our work on marketing strategy, airline social media metrics often come up in discussions. Though, we realize that once agencies take over the implementation of the strategy, most of the airline social media metrics used today border on irrelevance. What is the value of Views, Likes or Shares to the business? Especially when they can easily be faked. While these may be easy to track, they seldom help beat competition in a sustained manner. I realized the significance of using the right airline marketing metrics during a lakeside conversation over a year ago.

Airline social media metrics can be faked

At one of our quarterly SimpliFlying retreats last summer, we were at a serene lake cottage on the outskirts of Seattle. Dirk Singer had flown in from London as he’d recently joined the team. As we dipped our toes and watched the sun go down, the topic of conversation was airline social media metrics being faked – “social media fakery”.

While I had not heard of the term, Dirk was familiar with marketing agencies “buying” Likes, Views or Shares for their aviation clients. Sometimes, they’d work with influencers to boost these numbers and at other times, pay “bots” outright to hit a target.

In an era where the numbers of Facebook Likes or Twitter followers are becoming a major driving force in airline social media strategy, this is cheating.

I was intrigued enough to investigate and we decided to go a step further. In February this year, at our Airline Marketing Innovation Lab in Singapore, we ran a live experiment. We filmed a video at the beginning of the Lab featuring the participants evacuating a simulated airline fire. That video was uploaded on YouTube and Instagram without anyone’s knowledge.

Towards the end of the day, we revealed to the airline attendees that the video they were featured in had garnered over 25,000 views on each of the platforms! These were not organic views. We had spent less than €50 on “buying” these views. The audience, which included mostly senior airline marketing professionals, grimaced.

That day in Singapore, we proved two points – that social media metrics can be faked and that driving higher numbers may not mean anything for the business.

Airline social media metrics are not relevant

Most social media metrics measured by airlines and their agencies today are not relevant to the business. An airline based in Asia recently launched a new route to North America. They ran a Facebook campaign to drive views for a video of the first flight ceremonies. While the video was viewed over 100,000 times, it is anyone’s guess how many of these views converted into sales for the airline, especially because there was no call-to-action in the video!

On Twitter, many airlines have “average reply time” as their go-to metric for delivering customer service. Indeed, social media is full of impatient trolls who would be very upset if they do not get a reply from the airline in an instant. However, it is wrong to focus on reply time isolated from other metrics such as resolution rate, which shed light on the quality of those replies. A rush to reply fast often reduces the quality of the responses.

Airline social media metrics are complex

While social media metrics being used today are convenient to measure, they are complex to understand. We recently reviewed metrics for the daily Live show I host on Facebook and Twitter. One of the videos had over 55,000 “clicks to play the video”. There were 5,000 total video views. Yet, only 87 people had watched the video with sound on for more than 10 seconds. It’s confusing, isn’t it?

If this was a marketing campaign you ran for your airline, what would you report to your CFO – that 87 people viewed the video or 55,000 clicked on it? Will that be the most accurate representation of what you achieved? In fact, what did you achieve beyond Views? Most of the social media metrics pulled from Facebook, Twitter and other platforms are either confusing or inflated.

To make matters worse, it is in the interest of the marketing agencies, the social media managers and tools like Facebook to showcase the most inflated numbers. This often puts things dramatically out of context. Social media creates a pleasant bubble where likes, shares, views, comments and followers can give a false sense of security. They can actually take the focus away from knowing and caring about what customers want.

Which airline social media metrics should be measured?

Every Chief Marketing Officer needs to ask what the airline is truly trying to achieve through marketing, be it traditional or social media powered. The two key goals of marketing are to support sales and to build a lasting brand that helps differentiate the airline from the competition.

Look at the funnel

It is high time that traditional marketing metrics like look-to-book ratio take precedence over Views and Re-Tweets. The Fairmont Hotels marketing team tracks the funnel, using a pixel on their website. It knows exactly how many leads coming from social media campaign convert. Volaris, a Mexican ultra low-cost airline, attributes up to 70% of its website sales to ads on Facebook and Twitter. These should be coupled with brand-centric metrics like Net Promoter Score to determine how well the airline is connecting with the customer across touch-points.

Social media is a much better two-way channel

It is also important to note that social media is not good at messaging because messages often get lost in too much noise. It is a much better medium for reaching and connecting with people — which means that currently, social media is the best customer service platform available to airlines.

If airlines can leverage this opportunity, they can think harder about how to learn much more about their customers and know as much about them as we know about our friends. This data, combined with an attitude to serve, is going to be the future. It’s not going to be in superfluous metrics.

If every airline is measuring the same easy-to-get and easy-to-fake metrics, then it’s a race to the bottom. In the words of Seth Godin, “when you measure the same metrics, you create the same outcomes.” So, if your airline is trying to stand out from competition, then measure something different. Measure what’s relevant. Measure what drives business. Not egos.

In conclusion, I’d like to share my Live show episode I did on my topic. If this is something you’ve struggled with, I’d love to hear how you’ve tackled it.

Shashank Nigam is the CEO of SimpliFlying and the author of SOAR, the quintessential book on airline marketing. Join the next SimpliFlying Lab in London or get a copy of SOAR. This article will be published in the next edition of Airline Business magazine.

]]>http://simpliflying.com/2017/fake-airlines-social-media-metrics/feed/0Quitting something I lovehttp://simpliflying.com/2017/quitting-something-love/
http://simpliflying.com/2017/quitting-something-love/#respondWed, 05 Jul 2017 05:13:43 +0000http://simpliflying.com/?p=28260Last week I had my exit interview with Shashank and we chatted at length; three hours to be exact. Even that was not enough to sum up my journey and feelings for SimpliFlying since I started full-time five years ago. I never expected to see so much change in myself, in my personality and in

]]>Last week I had my exit interview with Shashank and we chatted at length; three hours to be exact. Even that was not enough to sum up my journey and feelings for SimpliFlying since I started full-time five years ago.

I never expected to see so much change in myself, in my personality and in my outlook on life. When I graduated from university early on, I thought I already knew who I was and what I would spend my years doing i.e. clock my work experience and achievements in marketing and communications.

I did all that. However, my most gratifying takeaway thus far is discovering that there is so much room for change for the better; that many conventions in life are misplaced and it is okay to change course.

It is okay to refuse requests from or stand up against people I love; it is okay to ask for help or someone else’s time even though it may feel an imposition; it is okay to quit a job without necessarily having another job lined up.

The act of understanding something and the act of doing something is not the same. Like my good friend Dennis Wong says, many people may understand that smoking is bad for their health but they cannot bring themselves to stop.

It took me a long time to become at ease with acting differently from societal norms. In Singapore (this probably extends to other Asian cultures), the idea of remote working is likened to having an unstable job, a consequence of not being able to get full-time employment elsewhere.

Whenever my relatives, friends or acquaintances ask what I do, I struggle. There are two reasons:

1) I work remotely so naturally there are the above assumptions about my capabilities

2) I assume at least 3-5 different roles (we all do at SimpliFlying) so it is hard to describe what I do.

Later on I realise that this is exactly what has enabled me to grow faster in my personal development.

1. Freedom

Remote working gave me the flexibility to experiment in terms of working environment and hours.

I have worked from my dining table next to a window where air is fresh; on the uncomfortably low coffee table at my parent’s home; at the gym that even has sleeping pods; at noisy hawker centres serving laksa and popiah; at least 20 different cafes (and found two that serve awesome chai latte) and not forgetting, from a treehouse in Thailand.

Hits and misses were aplenty but the learning was tremendous. I have learned that I am more productive with white noises in the background; that I can work non-stop for a maximum of 2.5 hours, after which I need a break to re-charge; that exercises, meditations and naps are the best ways for me to recover before a second or third sprint in work.

Knowing what environments and routines increase my productivity allow me to immerse in deeper thinking, produce higher quality work and become more confident of my abilities.

2. The team showed me the different possibilities to living life

My colleagues come from all over the world: Shashank is Indian but spent much of his early years in Singapore, then migrated to Canada a few years ago; Marco is an Italian living in Spain; Baiba is Latvian and she’s moved to Spain as well not long ago; Shubhodeep and Ravi are the weirdest pair I’ve seen because their personalities could be any more clashing yet they have been best friends since young; David and Dirk are both from the UK but their approaches in life and in work are nothing alike.

Despite each of our differences and oddities, the synergy working together has been superb. SimpliFlying has shown me that we don’t have to make ourselves be like another person in order to get along well.

During our quarterly retreats, we have our heart-to-heart talks about our history, relationships, values and perspectives. With them, I began to familiarise myself with different philosophies. Through them and their stories, I eventually found the courage to break away from conventions in Singapore.

Last year, Lester and I moved out of our parents’ homes. We rented a place of our own, even though the flat we had bought was just 12 months away from completion. (Read about Built-To-Order concept of government housing in Singapore.) This was the single most important and impactful decision I had made in 2016, and I have no regret at all.

This year, we decided to quit our jobs to travel as well as to pursue further learning in many other fields e.g. surfing, painting, business Chinese language, agile project management (PMI-ACP). This was not a passionate decision made in haste. We planned months for it and prepared for the compromises that would come with it e.g. finances.

“I still love everything I quit. But not as much as I love all this room for change.”

To my team mates — Shashank, Shubhodeep, Marco, Baiba, Ravi, David, Dirk, Vishal and Gina— you guys have no idea how much you have influenced my life. The candid post-its about what you love and not love about me are one of the most precious things I hold dear. Thank you for helping me learn about myself, simply by being yourself. I love you all!

]]>http://simpliflying.com/2017/quitting-something-love/feed/0Why Airline Branding Is So Difficult (Plus Tips)http://simpliflying.com/2017/why-airline-branding-is-so-difficult-plus-tips/
http://simpliflying.com/2017/why-airline-branding-is-so-difficult-plus-tips/#respondTue, 16 May 2017 09:34:17 +0000http://simpliflying.com/?p=27609Maintaining the soundness of a brand is a mission that doesn’t get easier with time, especially for an airline. In fact in airline branding, it gets tougher. Here are three reasons why. 1) Air travel gets compared to other B2C experiences Air travel occupies the same space in the customer’s mind, who can’t help but

]]>Maintaining the soundness of a brand is a mission that doesn’t get easier with time, especially for an airline. In fact in airline branding, it gets tougher.

Here are three reasons why.

1) Air travel gets compared to other B2C experiences

Air travel occupies the same space in the customer’s mind, who can’t help but carry over the same expectations they have had from other B2C experiences. In fact, he/she may expect even more since air travel costs more.

Examples of comments I often hear:

“Most hotels allow me to change the booking to another guest’s name without any fuss or penalty. Why can’t airlines do the same?”

“At restaurants, I can always return bad food to the kitchen. Why do I have to put up with the crappy food on the airplanes?”

“When my food delivery arrives much later than promised, Deliveroo quickly compensates me with credits I can use towards future purchases. Airline customer service takes forever to get back…”

Most customers are not aware about the complexities involving in running airline operations or the red types from the several regulatories, and they don’t really care.

That said, the reality — that customers expectations will only continue to elevate especially with the rise of other B2C services with massive market reach, such as Airbnb in hospitality and Uber in transport — will not go away.

To thrive in a constantly changing environment, companies need to review their practices regularly, identify outdated ones that they must unlearn and re-learn new best practices. Innovation is key to survival and this rule applies to airlines just as much.

When was the last time your airline had a thorough review of the business from a branding perspective? Consider our proprietary 6X airline branding model featured in SOAR. You can download a free chapter here.

2. More touchpoints are being added, creating larger margin for error

Many little things can influence a brand’s image or appeal these days. The more customer touch points that are involved, the larger the margin for error.

For example, an advertisement in the local papers, the ease of navigating online booking, the tone of the customer service agent on the phone, the poise of the cabin crew, the taste of inflight food, the delivery of baggage at destination airports… these don’t even make up 10% of all the touchpoints involved when a customer interacts with an airline brand.

Every time an outlet or a communication channel is offered, a new touch point gets added to the mix e.g. Facebook brand page, twitter customer service etc.

The same advice above applies here. Review the touchpoints and see what consumer behavior has changed in the recent years and which touchpoints can be eliminated, replaced or combined. For example, shifting focus from call centre customer service to social media customer service.

It is not about following what other airlines are doing but rather, taking cues from them and checking against your own data to see if it is relevant to you.

3. That “externality” facet that directly affects customers

In our proprietary 6X airline branding model, we identified several elements crucial to airline’s “remarkability” and its ability to build strong bonds with its customers. Several of these branding elements are applicable to many other industries but there is one that is especially true to airlines. And it comes with a heavy burden.

“Externality: a consequence of an activity experienced by third parties (e.g. bad weather or ineffective airport control that causes aircraft delays that in turn affects passengers’ arrival time to its destination)”

Airlines are especially vulnerable to externalities on a day-to-day basis because of the huge amount of and high frequency of exposure to external factors such as weather, each airport’s ability to facilitate incoming aircraft.

Unlike logistical companies that move packages, airlines move people.Any lapse in service or product quality such as flight delay or broken seat is immediately felt by the customers and the impact compounded when they are held captive for hours. This goes on to dramatically affect their judgement of the airline brand.

While as an airline you cannot control the externalities, you can control how you respond to the situation. When a crisis does hit, it hits big.

Crisis management and communications is a crucial part of airline branding. In fact, it is one of the most important steps we ask all our airline clients to prioritise first. Social media has become a key channel in crisis communications in the past three years, in some cases replacing even press releases.